How to Listen

The ability for a business to effectively communicate with their customers in a manner that is supportive of HOW the customer communicates is changing rapidly these days. Many people are happy communicating via phone while others have made a full on switch to social media platforms – areas that may allow them to express themselves more fully to an audience that they have defined. Many of us…may just like to hear ourselves talk.

The challenge for a business today is how to listen. If I complain or want to rant about a negative experience with your company, should I expect a response?

What are the right rules to play by these days? As of right now, a business that can surprise a customer by being responsive in an area where a response was not expected, can gain huge benefits. But how long does that kind of thing last?

New modes of communication do not allow us to quit getting better at the other ones. I think there is still huge room for improvement with how I am treated when I call for service or need to ‘talk to a human.’

There are new tools available for the enterprise that is looking to not only stay on top of their customer communication game, but also to take up a notch or two and distinguish themselves in the process. We dive into a number of different areas that I think you will find interesting. But If there was one central thread to what is driving these changes…its rich media connectivity. How far can we go with video? What is being done with audio (phone) communications? How do you, as a business, take a wild and wooly medium such as twitter for example, and wrestle it down to a submissive process that can align with your business?

Tina Shakour, aka Voice Chick…has really been excited about this show and I must admit, this is really good stuff.

Think about it: In an age of social media and always-connected consumers, today’s multichannel contact centers must evolve from the traditional reactive mode to a more proactive engagement model to resolve customer complaints and provide superior service.

This episode of TechWiseTV will show you the latest customer collaboration technologies that enable you to meet these challenges and serve customers more quickly and more efficiently while lowering costs and increasing revenue.

Even before you watch the show, what do you think?

How appropriate are tools we hint at here for today’s business?

What expectations are being set here? Do you see a darker side to the potential precedent of ‘expecting’ a response?

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